Cousin
by JillSwinburne
Summary: Dudley thinks about Harry while he and his family are in hiding. DH compliant.


Okay, I thought that it might be interesting to look at what happened to the Dursely's after they left Privet Drive as we never find out. I particularly liked the idea that Dudley had some kind of new found liking for his cousin, so this is what I came up with, hope you like.

Disclaimer: I am not J.K Rowling, although I have walked past her house a couple fo times :D

The Dursley's had been characteristically ungrateful when, after nearly a year in hiding, they were finally told that it was safe for them to return to Privet Drive. Uncle Vernon raged about the loss of his job and the fact that he was probably going to end up in prison for non-payment of his taxes. Aunt Petunia almost fainted when she thought about the state the house was probably in after a year of neglect and they both turned blind ears when members of the Order offered to help set things to rights. But throughout the fuss Dudley was strangely silent.

It had been an odd year for Dudley. Torn away from his home, his school, his friends he had slowly come to appreciate just how desperate things really were. The odd sense of regret he had felt when he took leave of his cousin for the last time the summer before had grown into a kind of respect, tinged with remorse for all the years he had bullied Harry. The wizards who looked after them spoke of little but Harry, how much he had done and what he would still accomplish if only the wizarding world would get behind him.

The Dursley's had been housed in a little cottage in the middle of nowhere. The wizard who owned the place, Alphias Dipworth was a staunch supporter of Harry and the Order. Every morning his owl, a bad tempered barn owl called Ruddy, brought him copies of the Daily Prophet and the Quibbler. Dipworth would read the Prophet in the mornings, scoffing and raging over what he read.

"Complete nonsense!" he would cry aloud, causing Uncle Vernon to drop his tea. "Complete and utter hogwash!"

Eventually he would settle down and read the Quibbler instead but after a while even that seemed to annoy him.

"If I ever see that spineless good for nothing Xenophilius Lovegood again I swear I'll stun him into next month!" was his usual comment.

Although Vernon and Petunia avoided looking at the wizarding papers, demanding instead that Ruddy bring a Daily Mail with him, Dudley began sneaking the Prophet and Quibbler out of the waste basket and reading them in his room at night. At first he found he could not look directly at the moving photographs which gazed at him quizzically from the pages but after a while they ceased to bother him.

He read everything he could find regarding Harry, but he dared not take clippings in case his mother found them when she tidied his room, something she did frequently as there was little else to do. Rather he would sneak downstairs before dawn and replace the papers in the bin, before anyone else was awake.

The cottage was not only their refuge but appeared to be a stop-off point for what seemed to Dudley to be the rest of the magical world. They even played host to a pirate radio station a couple of times which called itself Potter-Watch. On these occasions his mother and father would lock themselves in their room and advised that he do the same but more often than not he crept to the top of the stairs and listened intently. Even when the show was not being broadcasted from the cottage itself he would keep close to Dipworth when it was on so that he might overhear what was happening.

For a year Dudley's life seemed to revolve around his cousin who was himself not present. As time went on he seemed to depend more and more upon the fleeting bits of information he was able to pick up about Harry. When Potter-Watch went off-air for a few weeks he was practically ill and although he told his parents that he was just bored of being stuck in the cottage he saw the way Dipworth raised his eyebrows. When the show came back again the old wizard nodded to the spare chair at the kitchen table, even made him a cup of tea. Dipworth was not particularly fond of the Durselys when they arrived, but Dudley's new found interest in his cousin softened him a little towards the boy.

And then it was time to go and Dudley found that, try as he might, his old life held little joy for him now. He dropped the nickname Big D and gave up the weight training. He no longer took interest in the presents his concerned parents lavished on him. Once and only once did he voice a concern for what might have happened to Harry.

"Why do you care? It's because of that pathetic runt that we've spent a year in that rat-hole with those freaks!" exclaimed his father.

After that Dudley didn't mention Harry again, but his cousin prayed on his mind. He felt as though, after all the years of abuse Harry had suffered at his hands he deserved a little consideration. After-all, if Dipworth was to be believed he had just saved world, surely some kind of thanks were in order?

Dudley wrote a note to Dipworth, asking for news of Harry. A few days later Ruddy appeared at his window with a copy of the Daily Prophet. After that the bird was there every morning with the new edition. Dudley took to hiding them in Harry's old room, at least then if his mother found them she would just think Harry had left them there.

Dudley found the Prophet fascinating; soon he no longer skimmed through it for mentions of his cousin but took to reading the whole thing, cover to cover. There was a lot in it he didn't understand but it was fascinating nonetheless.

Two years after returning to Privet Drive Dudley moved out. He was sharing a flat with some mates when he met Lucy. She wasn't his first girlfriend but she was his first since he had returned home. A year later they got married. Dudley invited Harry to the wedding.

It was the first time the boys had seen each other in five years. There was an awkward handshake and some shy smiling. He and his girlfriend Ginny kept to the back, out of view of Vernon and Petunia. They didn't do any magic and left early but Dudley was still glad they were there; he sent a note to say thank you. After that there were birthday and Christmas cards and then an invitation to Harry's own wedding.

Dudley considered going alone, he didn't want to freak Lucy out but she wanted to go. He did his best to explain beforehand but the actual even went beyond anything even he had imagined. A woman with long silver hair and a French accent kissed him on the cheek and said, "Eet is so nice to 'ave someone from 'arry's side of ze family 'ere!"

There were a lot of people with red hair most of whom seemed to be related to the bride and everyone was dressed in the most brightly coloured and eccentric clothes he had ever seen. Lucy held tightly to his hand through the service, her mouth open. But her gasps and exclamations were of awe and not horror and afterwards she hugged Harry fiercely.

"I've never seen anything so amazing and so beautiful," she told him. And Harry had grinned at him over her head.

"Dudley have I ever told you how much I like your wife?"

A short time later Dudley saw something even more wonderful than Harry's wedding; his daughter. He asked Harry to be godfather.

"You saved the world didn't you? Personally I can't think of a safer pair of hands."

Thankfully Vernon was ill when the christening came around so he and Petunia were absent. It would be some time before Dudley plucked up the courage to tell them that their despised nephew was godfather to their beloved granddaughter.

The Dursley's and the Potters continued to see each other fleetingly, sending cards and presents, going on the occasional afternoon visit. What had begun in Dudley's mind as reparation had become a kind of vague friendship. There might even have been a kind of mutual respect, even if it had to be hidden from Vernon and Petunia.

And then one day, when Dudley's daughter Olivia was about seven he found himself dialling Harry's number in a fit of panic.

"Hello Dudley, what's up?"

"Harry, I don't know what to do. You're the only person I know who can help."

"What's wrong?"

"I need to you to come and see Olly."

"Why?"

"Because I think my daughter's a witch!"

"How can you be sure?"

"She's levitating!"

"I'll be right over!"

When Dudley put the phone down and went back into the living room Olivia was still there, her backside clearly several inches above the chair cushion.

"Is something wrong Daddy?" she asked sweetly, her brow furrowed with little pink wrinkles as she frowned at him.

"No sweetheart, everything's fine."

He heard a pop from the back garden and Harry coming in the back door. Dudley smiled at his daughter and patted her bobbing head.

"Everything's just the way it should be."


End file.
